by Carl Haub, senior demographer
We have been following the development of the sex ratio at birth in India for some time now on the PRB website and the latest figures from the Sample Registration System of the Registrar General of India have just been received.
To refresh everyone’s memory, the biological sex ratio at birth favors the birth of a boy baby over a girl baby worldwide by about 5 percent. Thus, a “normal” sex ratio at birth is 105 boys per 100 girls. India, unlike most countries publishes the ratio in reverse so that a normal ratio would be 950 girl births per 1,000 boy births.
In India, as in several other Asian countries, such China and South Korea (although the South Korean government has now succeeded in returning the country’s ratio to normal), there has been quite a strong preference for male births. This often has to do with having a son or sons to support one in old age and, in India, many Hindu sects specify that a son should light one’s funeral pyre at cremation. As a result, sex-selective abortion began in a serious way at some point in the 1990s, largely enabled by the introduction of tests, such as ultrasound, to determine the sex of a fetus. In some wealthier states of the northwest, such as Haryana (adjacent to Delhi) and Punjab, couples who were able to afford the test began to abort female fetuses in lincreasing numbers. The practice was also undoubtedly spurred by relatively low birth rates in those states, placing greater urgency on having a son.
The practice has been outlawed and doctors who perform ultrasounds for sex selection have been prosecuted and clinics have had their licenses revoked. Large newspaper ads and TV spots extolling the value of the girl child are just a few of the steps being taken to end the practice.
The graph below shows the progress made in returning the sex ratio at birth to normal since 1999, the first year for which those data were published. There has been significant progress in Punjab, although its ratio, at 775 in 1999-2001, was by far the worst in India to begin with. It appears that progress has slowed somewhat in the most recent period in Punjab as also appears to be the case in Haryana. Does this suggest that finishing the task of bringing the ratio up to normal 950 will prove more difficult than raising it from very low levels?
Sex Ratio at Birth in India and in Two States, 1999-2001 to 2006-2008
Source: Registrar General of India
Overall, India’s sex ratio at birth stood at 904 in 2006-2008, still not satisfactory but comparatively good compared with China’s 120 male births per 100 female births[1]. Hopefully, the more recent trends are but pauses on the road to normalcy.
We have been following the development of the sex ratio at birth in India for some time now on the PRB website and the latest figures from the Sample Registration System of the Registrar General of India have just been received.
To refresh everyone’s memory, the biological sex ratio at birth favors the birth of a boy baby over a girl baby worldwide by about 5 percent. Thus, a “normal” sex ratio at birth is 105 boys per 100 girls. India, unlike most countries publishes the ratio in reverse so that a normal ratio would be 950 girl births per 1,000 boy births.
In India, as in several other Asian countries, such China and South Korea (although the South Korean government has now succeeded in returning the country’s ratio to normal), there has been quite a strong preference for male births. This often has to do with having a son or sons to support one in old age and, in India, many Hindu sects specify that a son should light one’s funeral pyre at cremation. As a result, sex-selective abortion began in a serious way at some point in the 1990s, largely enabled by the introduction of tests, such as ultrasound, to determine the sex of a fetus. In some wealthier states of the northwest, such as Haryana (adjacent to Delhi) and Punjab, couples who were able to afford the test began to abort female fetuses in lincreasing numbers. The practice was also undoubtedly spurred by relatively low birth rates in those states, placing greater urgency on having a son.
The practice has been outlawed and doctors who perform ultrasounds for sex selection have been prosecuted and clinics have had their licenses revoked. Large newspaper ads and TV spots extolling the value of the girl child are just a few of the steps being taken to end the practice.
The graph below shows the progress made in returning the sex ratio at birth to normal since 1999, the first year for which those data were published. There has been significant progress in Punjab, although its ratio, at 775 in 1999-2001, was by far the worst in India to begin with. It appears that progress has slowed somewhat in the most recent period in Punjab as also appears to be the case in Haryana. Does this suggest that finishing the task of bringing the ratio up to normal 950 will prove more difficult than raising it from very low levels?
Sex Ratio at Birth in India and in Two States, 1999-2001 to 2006-2008
Source: Registrar General of India
Overall, India’s sex ratio at birth stood at 904 in 2006-2008, still not satisfactory but comparatively good compared with China’s 120 male births per 100 female births[1]. Hopefully, the more recent trends are but pauses on the road to normalcy.
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